


Danny Phantom and Astro Boy Crossover

by JayRock



Category: Danny Phantom, Tetsuwan Atom | Astro Boy
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-04
Updated: 2013-01-15
Packaged: 2017-11-23 13:54:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/622900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayRock/pseuds/JayRock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is currently being transitioned from ff.net. Read if you want, but there may be formatting errors. Major formatting errors. You can read there instead: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5755860/1/Danny-Phantom-and-Astro-Boy-Crossover</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Greetings. If you see any spelling or grammar errors, feel free to identify them to me. If you did I would be very pleased and not offended at all.**

Notes on Setting:

For the _Danny Phantom_ universe, it's fairly simple, this just takes place after the series finishes. So yeah, Danny's identity is known, his parents know he's half ghost, and he's dating Sam. There are some things included which may not be SUPER DUPER adherent to _DP_ canon, but it’s all for story purposes so don’t freak if I claim Danny can’t do something with his ghost powers that he did in one episode out of the series. As for the _Astro Boy_ universe— just don't even try to figure out which series it is. I took elements from the original manga, 60's black and white anime, 80's color anime, 2003 anime, and maybe even the movie and Urasawa Naoki's _Pluto_ manga. In general, you needn't worry about knowing anything about any of the _Astro Boy_ franchises, you learn about the world while Danny does. It would definitely help to have prior knowledge of _Danny Phantom_ , though. No shipping except for what's canon.

\--------

Chapter 1.

Danny winced, rolled over, and fought the urge to vomit. He had been in the Ghost Zone, chasing a particularly annoying phantom, when out of nowhere he felt a gut wrenching pull followed a blinding flash of light. _Pull it together, pull it together,_ he thought. His brains felt like an egg salad sandwich that had gone through a blender. What _was_ that thing he had crashed into? It had looked like a tear in a sheet of paper… no, no, that wasn't it. Danny cringed, cradled his forehead and attempted to think.

First of all. Where was he? The air was warm, and he felt the glare of sunlight on his back. There were wood planks beneath him the air smelled strongly of dust. Slowly, corneas stinging from the light, he opened his eyes to a squint and tried to make sense of what appeared to be a collage of loose bricks and broken boards. He sat up a little and looked around, ignoring how his stomach churned at these attempts.

He was in an old, decrepit house. Light shone through the holes in the wall and shattered windows onto a warped and dusty wood floor covered in ancient water stains. He had apparently fallen through the second story, and was lying in a jumbled pile of floorboards, old furniture, and loose papers. No wonder he hurt all over.

Was he still in the Ghost Zone? _No, this is real_ , he thought as the painfully bright sunlight and light breeze told him. Danny really hoped he hadn't gone through another portal, the last time that had happened… huh?

His train of thought was interrupted by the distant sound of hurried footsteps. _Oh crap!_ He tried to phase, but his stomach answered with a back flip. He desperately transformed back to human just as he heard a boy's voice call out from a connecting hallway. Danny couldn’t understand a word of it, it sounded like some Asian language. Maybe… Japanese?! Had he gone through a portal to Japan??

The footsteps reached the door, and a kid wearing nothing but a black Speedo and knee-high red boots bolted into the room. His eyes widened at the sight of Danny sprawled awkwardly over a pile of debris. Belting out a panicked stream of Japanese, he rushed over and grasped at Danny’s hands to help him to his feet. Danny stared dazedly at the boy while he patted him down for injuries and continued to ramble.

Not finding anything, he finally stood back and addressed Danny authoritatively, a serious look in his eyes. Danny, not understanding a word of what the strange, half-naked boy had said, hopelessly replied "I'm sorry, but I don't have _any_ idea what you’re saying."

To Danny's surprise, the boy glanced up and replied "English? You don't speak Japanese?"

"No," he said, looking shocked but a little relived.

"Then what on earth are you doing in an abandoned house in Japan?" the kid asked in bewilderment, waving a hand at their dusty surroundings.

"I'm not sure myself, actually," he answered truthfully.

The boy stared, but then smiled and laughed somewhat warily.

"That's a _really_ strange thing to not know! But, I need you to listen: whatever your situation may be, you need to leave this property as soon as possible. You’re in danger."

 _Wow. He sounds a lot older than he looks,_ Danny thought, _and he's fluent and articulate in two languages. Weird._

"Danger?" Danny asked, watching the child curiously.

"Yes, this area is currently barricaded by the Metro City police."

 _There's something off about this kid,._ Danny thought absentmindedly. _It's weird enough he's half naked and talks like someone twice his age, but there's something weird about his eyes and skin… he can't be a ghost. My ghost sense would have gone off ages ago._

"Barricade? Why?" he wasn't particularly worried about whatever they were barricading against. He had more than likely faced worse.

"A rogue construction robot," the boy answered.

There was a brief pause. "A robot!" Danny exclaimed.

"Yes…?" he replied slowly, unsure how to interpret this sudden outburst, "… we think it’s a CPU malfunction, but he killed the rest of the worker bots on the crew. The police attempted to stop him, but he acquired one of their guns. They pursued him to this condemned city block."

Danny, suddenly more wary of his surroundings, realized how the room was oddly warm for the low angle of the sun. He ran over to the window and looked out. It was as the boy said; the block was completely broken down, with closely packed 3 story houses separated by a fence long since buried under litter and leftover construction materials. Heat and humidity hung in the air and cicadas hummed from their unseen perches in the rubble.

Was it summer? It had been February in Amity Park! Japan and the USA are both in the northern hemisphere; it technically should be winter here too! Danny frantically collected his thoughts. A robot… clearly intelligent, the boy mentioned it having a CPU and using a gun. He had gone through portals in the Ghost Zone to the past before. Had he just gone through one that led to the future? Except… Danny rubbed his forehead gingerly. It hadn't been a portal. It was a tear. A tear… a dimensional tear!?

"Sir."

Danny looked up at the boy, and nearly jumped at the seriousness of his expression.

"You need to leave," he asserted, "The robot has a gun and a faulty CPU. He is he could possibly shoot and kill you, even without intention."

"Then why are _you_ here, telling _me_ to leave?" Danny grated.

"The police asked for my assistance."

Yes, because helping the police is just something ten year olds do. Though, if it had a gun, he should probably leave… he'd have to go ghost to avoid bullets and he didn't want to do that in front of this kid.

"LOOK OUT!"

Danny snapped his head up in time to see the huge grey mech leap out from behind of concrete blocks, holding the largest gun he had ever seen in his life. The boy snatched the back of his T-shirt and yanked him down as a spray of bullets blew holes in the remnants of the window. Danny yelled as one of them swiped him across the hip just deep enough to smart like a bastard.

"You're hurt!" the boy cried, seeing bloody fabric.

"S' only skin deep," Danny said bluntly.

The boy looked up anxiously. "Oh no, he's coming," he muttered as the crunch of unnaturally heavy footsteps drew closer.

Swiftly, he grabbed Danny's wrist and effectively dragged the floundering teenager to the far corner of room, shoving him behind a couch and then running back to the window _. What the hell is he doing?_ Danny thought, _that monster is going to flatten him!_ He tried to scramble to his feet and transform, but the robot had already smashed trough the far wall like it was made of chewed-up Popsicle sticks.

The boy raised his hand and addressed the hulking machine in Japanese, a look of concern on his face. Holy crap, Danny thought in amazement, is he trying to negotiate with it?

He had at least briefly captured its attention, and it paused as the kid continued to talk gently in Japanese to the eight foot, three ton steel beast with a machine gun the size of a cannon. Unfortunately, it quickly lost interest and turned his gun on the boy. Danny's head reeled in pain from the deafening gunfire, but the boy, seemingly unfazed that a gun was being fired at him, simply leapt to the side of the bullets and continued to speak. The robot, annoyed by the dodge, cocked his gun to fire again.

Danny saw sudden flash of ferocity cross the kid's face, and he then proceeded to grab the muzzle and rip the enormous gun out of the giant's hand.

Danny blinked. Holy shit, did he just see that?

The robot roared with anger and swiped a massive hand and the boy, who dodged again. Holding the gun easily with one hand, he quickly removed the ammo, grabbed the other end of the gun, and bent it clean in half. The machine, now thoroughly enraged by the loss of his gun, balled a fist and attempted to smash him into the floor. The kid stepped into the oncoming attack, grabbed him at the elbow and shoulder and flipped the robot clear off the ground; driving it into the floor with an impact that smashed the floorboards and made Danny’s teeth rattle.

Before the robot even had time to move, he scrambled up onto the steel monster, flipped up a hatch, and pressed a few buttons. The giant machine pushed an arm on the floor, attempting to get up, then gave a dying wheeze and collapsed back down, the kid still on its back.

The boy stood up slowly, looking sadly the down monster he had just threw against the floor like a discarded coat. "He wouldn't even talk to me. What on earth would make a high functioning robot act like that?" He hopped off the robot’s massive steel back and walked over to Danny. "Are you ok sir?" he said, reaching out his hand to the dazed teen.

"How did you do that?!" Danny stuttered. The kid frowned in confusion and glanced back at the robot.

"Oh, you mean flip the construction bot like that?" he exclaimed, "I'm 1,000,000 horsepower, sir. I know I don't exactly look like it—"

"Horsepower?"

The boy examined Danny quizzically. "You do realize I'm a robot, right?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Note on Characters:**

_Astro Boy_ was first a Japanese comic called _Tetsuwan Atomu_ (Mighty Atom), so it seemed natural keep the setting and characters true to their Japanese origins. That said, the character names are the original Japanese ones and not the ones from later English adaptations. For reference:

Astro Boy = Atomu

Dr. O'shay/Dr. Elephun = Professor Ochanomizu

Inspector/Officer Scrubbrush = Officer Tawashi (Which also means scrub brush. Go figure.)

Zoran = Uran

I will translate more character names as they're introduced. Characters speaking in Japanese will <speak in these quotes.>

\--------

Chapter 2.

Danny stared. A robot? The kid was a ROBOT?!

He had… _thought_ something was odd about the boy, and now he knew what had been bugging him. It wasn’t skin he saw, but latex. His hair wasn’t any more real than a wig. The large brown eyes looking at him were cleverly painted and disguised cameras. What more, the boots and black and green underwear weren’t actually clothing, they were _part_ of him.

Catching the untold message, the boy’s eyes widened. “I’m so sorry sir, I thought you had assumed! If it makes you uncomfortable, I’ll gladly give some space!” he blurted out, quickly taking a step back.

“No, no, it’s fine,” muttered Danny, rubbing his forehead. What friggin’ YEAR was this? This kid was more lifelike than some _people_ he’d met.

“Really?” he said, beaming with relief. He grasped Danny’s arm and helped him to his feet.

“I’m Atom sir, though the Japanese pronunciation is Atomu.”

“I’m Danny.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Danny. Sorry you were shot, we’ll get that washed as soon as possible--” he grimaced and looked down.

“I told him to wait until _I_ sent a signal…” he sighed irritably, reaching up to his chest and prying open a square panel. The hatch revealed an array of USB and plug jacks, wires, LEDs, buttons, and other electronic devices. He turned on a small speaker.

“ATOMU!” bellowed a man’s voice. Atomu winced and mentally adjusted the volume.

<Officer Tawashi, please don’t shout. I can hear,> he groaned.

<It’s been 30 minutes! What’s going on? Did you get him?> Tawashi demanded.

<Yeah, I subdued him and shut off his power. He didn’t respond to my attempts to reason with him, so I had to use force.>

<Excellent! Which building are you in? We’ll move in immediately!>

Danny slouched against the wall and attempted to not stare. He picked at his wound until Atomu had finished the conversation and snapped his chest shut.

“Was that the police?” Danny asked.

“Yes, I told them to take the construction bot to the Ministry of Science to have its CPU examined.”

Danny bit his lip, and considered the fact that being in an abandoned house on the same block as a killer robot with no good explanation was not going to sound good to the police. Danny and decided to screw secrecy.

“Atomu, what year is it?”

Atomu stared at him.

“Are you serious?” he asked incredulously.

“Yes, unfortunately.”

The boy scrutinized Danny’s face for a sign of a bluff. “Does this have something to do with you not knowing why you’re here?”

“Yes. What year is it?”

“2005,” Atomu answered.

“Holy shit, please tell me you’re kidding.”

“What? What’s wrong?” he yelped, “What year did you think it was??”

“I think I’m in an alternate dimension,” Danny moaned, bringing his hands over his eyes.

Atomu tried to say something, but was interrupted as the police flooded into the building through the hole in the wall. The person Atomu had been contacted by, a man with a nose as large as his voice and clipped brown moustache, followed them and shouted orders. He spotted them and walked up.

<Ah, there you are! Thank you, we are in your debt yet again,> he barked merrily.

Atomu, clearly annoyed by the interruption, impatiently replied <Yes, any time, Officer.>

Tawashi looked up and noticed Danny. <Who’re you, punk?> he growled, <Atomu, what’s he doing here?> He stepped uncomfortably close to Danny and glared at him. Danny had no idea what the man was saying, but got the distinct impression he was unwelcome.

<Hey, hey! It’s fine, he’s one of my friends!>

Tawashi stepped back. <Well, he could have said so himself.>

<Danny doesn’t speak Japanese,> Atomu answered, then apologetically looked over his shoulder and said “Sorry about him.”

<Well, tell him that even if he is your friend, he has no business being in a place like this.>

<Yes, Tawashi,> Atomu turned to Danny, “Please, please continue!” he said urgently.

<Oi, Atomu!> hollered a policeman, <We need help lifting this thing!>

Atomu groaned hopelessly and leaned his forehead into his palms. <Coming!> he shouted as he loped over to the fallen robot.

<Get the limbs, OK guys?> he yelled, wrenching up the side, wedging himself under the body, and pushing it up onto his shoulders with an enormous groan of metal. The policemen scurried to grab the arms and legs as Atomu started to drag it out of the house. Danny tagged along behind the swarm as they shuffled out to a truck labeled with kanji Danny assumed were related to the Ministry of Science. He glanced around at the police cars, which were shaped like snarling dog heads. Yeah, this definitely not the earth he was familiar with.

Cheers and shouts behind him told that the robot had been successfully loaded. As Atomu ran over to him, he realized something disturbing about all the surrounding vehicles.

“Atomu, none of these cars have wheels.”

The boy frowned. “How far from the past are you? Wheels were banned from city limits ages ago in favor of anti-grav engines, because they cause less damage to roads.”

“I’m from 2007, actually,” Danny sighed, “and your technology is what I would consider to be futuristic. When you told me that you were a robot, I thought that it must be 2060 or something.”

“Oh, I see what you’re thinking!” Atomu said, “You’re two years ahead, but because our technology is more advanced this dimension must be separate from yours!”

Danny gave a short laugh. “I don’t know why you’re even believing a word I say. Hell, I wouldn’t believe myself if I heard what I’m telling you.”

Atom smiled and pointed his thumb at his chest. “I’m programmed to be the best at reading body language and voice tone. I can almost always tell when someone’s lying, and you aren’t.”

They looked up as another floating car pulled up next to the truck. A balding man with curly white hair and huge nose stepped out and talked briefly with the truck driver.

<Professor Ochanomizu!> Atomu yelled, waving his hands wildly.

“Who’s that?” Danny asked.

“He’s Mr. Ochanomizu from the Ministry of Science. He can probably help you with your problem!”

The man saw them and walked over. <Hey, Atomu,> he said cheerfully, <Who’s your friend?>

Atomu glanced at Danny, pulled Ochanomizu closer and started to explain in a fast stream of Japanese. The foreign teenager, once again left out of the circle, stood awkwardly to the side and watched the furious exchange. Finally Ochanomizu stopped and looked up at the subject of their conversation.

He started to introduce himself, then paused and said “I’m sorry, you only speak English, yes?” in a heavy Japanese accent.

“You speak English too?” Danny asked, surprised.

“The scientists at the Ministry work internationally,” he explained, “I speak many languages. But, that’s not the subject. Atomu tells me you believe you are from another dimension.”

“I _am_ from another dimension,” he said, looking around at the suburban surroundings.

“I don’t doubt you!” he exclaimed, “Atomu explained your reasoning and it seems logical. And I trust Atomu’s judgment to trust you, as he tends to be right about these sorts of things.”

“Yeah, we’ve dealt with time travel and aliens before, so dimensional travel isn’t out of the question.” Atomu added.

“Though it is new to us, so the Ministry would be glad to help. You do need to tell us all you can about how you got here.”

A shout came from the truck as its anti-grav engines whirred to life. <Ochanomizu! Get your ass in the car!>

“Perhaps on the way to the Ministry, Professor?” Atomu said raising his eyebrows.

<Right, right, I forgot about that,> Ochanomizu muttered, “Come, you two, we can talk on the way there.”

They walked over to the small yellow car, Ochanomizu getting in the driver’s seat and Atomu in one of the back ones. Danny glanced inside it, hesitating to enter. It didn’t look much different than a normal car. The dashboard was a little bit strange, but not drastically so.

“Oh, come on, it won’t bite you!” Atomu scolded, grabbing and pulling him down into the seat next to him. Danny shut the door and nervously buckled his seatbelt. _This is going to be interesting_ , he thought, looking out the window. Ochanomizu turned the ignition, and a low hum started beneath his feet. He hissed as he felt the car rise about a foot off the ground and glide forward in a single smooth motion.

Atomu laughed at his expression. “This must be really weird for you!” he commented.

“Yeah,” Danny muttered. He had never realized had much vibration and noise tires created.

“We were talking about how you got here?” Ochanomizu reminded them.

“Oh, right,” he said, prying his eyes away from window, “It’s kind of a convoluted story… you mentioned how you deal with time travel and robots? …I deal with ghosts.”

“Ghosts?!” Ochanomizu yelped.

“You mean spirits of dead people?!” Atomu asked incredulously, his eyes widening.

Danny frowned. “No, not really. They’re more like a different type of life form made of this incorporeal stuff called ectoplasm. Sometimes a human will leave behind a ghost when they die, but it’s more of an echo of their regrets than a soul, per say.”

“How does this connect to you appearing in this dimension?” he questioned.

“Well…” Danny slouched back and tried to come up with a good explanation, “All ghosts originate from a separate dimension called the Ghost Zone.”

<Creative,> Ochanomizu muttered.

<Hush! I want to see where he’s going with this!> Atomu complained. “Go on, Danny,” he urged.

Danny gave them both funny looks. “ _As_ I was saying, the Ghost Zone’s a different dimension than the one I live in, but we’re really really close to each other. About as close as they can be without, you know, crashing into each other. It’s still a bit unstable, so there’s lots of naturally occurring portals between our dimension and the Ghost Zone. My parents are just a little fanatically obsessed with ghosts, so they took advantage of that and made an artificial Ghost Portal in our basement. My parents, also being a little bit absent minded, have no control over what goes in and out of the portal, so the ghosts just come and go as they please. Not that the majority do any harm, but some are malevolent. And it’s kind of my job to help fight them. So yeah, I was in the Ghost Zone chasing one because I thought he might have information about some bigger nasty that’s been bugging our town, but I was accidently sucked into this dimension.”

“I think I understood most of that,” the professor commented, “What do you think, Atomu?”

“Truthfully, his description disturbs me,” the boy replied, “The fact he found a portal to our world there would seem to indicate that our world is bonding to the Ghost Zone in a similar way Danny’s has.”

“Actually--” Danny interjected, “—it wasn’t a portal. It looked more like a tear, like a ripped sheet of paper or something. And portals don’t pull you in, they just act as a doorway. This literally sucked me in as soon as I got in its ‘gravity well,’ so to speak.” Danny scratched his forehead. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It seemed really unnatural.”

“Still, if there’s one, there may be more,” Atomu pointed out.

“I kind of hope there are,” Danny moaned, “Otherwise I may be stuck here a long, long time. Hell, if there’s a difference in how time lapses in our dimensions, a second here could equal years back home.”

“Yeah, no matter how I look at the situation from your perspective, it really sucks. Unfortunately we can’t really do anything about right now,” he sighed, idly swinging his legs.

“Yeah, I’m pretty much screwed… woah.” Danny looked out the window at the view of skyscrapers, intertwined with multiple layers of roads. They were on one of the higher levels, and Danny could see what looked like a huge airport on a peninsula. The sea water almost completely surrounded the vast circular expanse of concrete, glowing orange in the sunset. He stared in awe as a space shuttle shot up a huge curved sled and blazed of in a column of fire.

“Where’s that ship going?” Danny asked excitedly.

“Uh…” Atomu craned his neck and focused his telescopic on the vanishing ship.

“Oh, that’s a cargo vessel. It’s probably carrying supplies to the mining base on Demios.”

“That’s one of Mars moons!” he exclaimed.

“Yep. I’ve been there once." 

“Not that he was invited, but that never stops him,” Ochanomizu remarked sarcastically.

Atomu laughed and started teasing the professor in Japanese. Danny stared out the window. They were dazzlingly high up, and looking down through the noodle-like mess of roads and catwalks made him feel slightly dizzy.

“It must be hell to navigate these streets,” he commented.

“The car does all the navigating,” Ochanomizu explained, “Most people don’t even bother to put their hands on the steering wheel. I usually have it in manual, though. Atomu and I tend to be trouble magnets, so I’ve become a bit paranoid.”

“I must be too. That would explain why I got pulled through the very fabric of time and space just to appear in the same block as a rampaging robot,” he muttered in a sardonic monotone.

Another rocket launch quickly diverted his attention, though. “What’s that ship?” he asked with wide-eyed enthusiasm.

“Passenger ship to the moon,” Atomu replied.

“Damn, I gotta get me a ride on one of those,” he murmured as he watched the light of the thrusters vanish into the upper atmosphere.

Atomu gave a sly smile. “I guess it isn’t all bad, huh?”

“We’ve arrived,” Ochanomizu informed them.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

Danny looked out the windshield at the enormous building. It was one of the larger skyscrapers, with a rounder design and huge steel ridges running vertically to the top. The same characters that were on the truck were above the entrance. Danny watched as they passed through the enormous parking lot of hovering cars. However they didn’t park, instead turning and continuing around to the back of the building.

Atomu sensed Danny’s confusion and explained “Professor Ochanomizu is the Director of the Ministry, so we get to park in the staff lot.” Danny turned and saw they were approaching a smaller lot at the back of the building, where a team of men and a few large robots was waiting.

“Ochanomizu’s director, huh?” Danny said.

“Since 1985!” Ochanomizu proclaimed proudly.

Danny wanted to ask him if he had made Atomu, but couldn’t think of a way to word it that didn’t made the kid sound like an object. He decided to avoid asking personal questions. The car pulled into a space by the back entrance, and the truck pulled into a spacious garage for the robots to unload it.

<Will you need assistance?> Atomu asked Ochanomizu.

<We’ll be fine. If we really need you to help us, we’ll contact you. For now just take Danny up to the room, it’s getting a bit late in the day and I’m sure both of you could use some rest,> he said reassuringly.

<Yes, Professor,> Atomu replied uneasily as the professor walked off to the garage. Atomu had a bad feeling about this situation he couldn’t shake. He couldn’t help but connect the malfunctioning robot with the “ghosts” Danny had spoken of. It certainly didn’t help that he had never encountered a robot, malfunctioning or not, that behaved anything like that… all robots were carefully programmed to nearly impossible to drive to violence, with a few rare exceptions such as war machines. Of course, it was just one, farfetched possibility, and he probably shouldn’t make assumptions about something he barely had any data on.

“…Are you OK??” Danny asked, tapping the boy’s small shoulder.

“I’m just over thinking things,” he said, brushing off Danny’s hand, “Anyways. He told me to take you up to the room.”

Atomu stepped off towards the back door of the building and Danny hurried to follow him. “The room?”

“A temporary apartment we use when the Professor has overnight work at the Ministry,” Atomu dryly explained, tapping a complicated access code into a number keyboard. “I tell him that Uran and I are perfectly capable of fending for ourselves, but you know how that goes.”

The door slid up and they entered a short hall with more doorways and two elevators. Danny laughed nervously, “Yeah, I could definitely give testament to you being able to take care of yourself…” he scratched his head. “Who’s Uran?”

Atomu pressed up button for the elevator, and it glowed soft white. “My sister.”

“Sister?! But—you’re—how does that work??”

“Well, sister in design, I guess,” he pondered, “Ochanomizu built her a few years after he reactivated me, and she’s based heavily off my design. She’s not as strong as me though. Thank god for that, too, because in her early years she was just a _little_ bit irresponsible.”

Danny decided not to ask when Atomu had been _de_ activated, as it seemed kind of like asking someone when they had died. Which, given his area of expertise, made him one of the few who had learned it was rude the hard way. His eyes still stung when he thought about it.

The elevator doors gave a chime and slid open, letting two people wearing lab coats out. Upon seeing Atomu they bowed respectfully and greeted him.

<Hello Tezuka, hello Kazama,> he replied, smiling. The doors closed, and he pressed a button for the 36th floor. Danny staggered, feeling his stomach fall through the floor as the elevator started upwards at an alarming pace.

“Sorry, I should have warned you how fast these things are,” Atomu laughed.

A female voice smoothly announced the floor number in Japanese and the doors opened to a long hallway lined with numbered rooms.

“Woah,” said Danny, staring up at the sky through the clear ceiling, “Is this the top floor?”

“Unless you count the roof,” he pointed at the vaguely hotel-like number placards, “This is where the interns and some of our scientists dorm. We also have a student program for high school students, so they live in these rooms during their stay.”

“You’re starting to sound like an advertisement,” Danny interjected.

“Ah, sorry, they make we do tours when they’re low on staff,” he said apologetically, stopping and rapping at #31, “Here’s the room.”

Light footsteps ran towards them and a girl Danny could only assume was Uran flung open the door. _Jesus!_ Danny thought, _she’s a clone of him minus the Y-chromosome!_ Not that they had chromosomes.

<Atomu! you’re back!> the shorter robot squealed, hugging him in a way that nearly drove him to the ground.

<Jeez, Uran, I sure hope you don’t hug Ochanomizu like that! You’ll break him!>

Uran looked up and saw Danny. <Who’s that?>

<Oh! Uran, please switch to English. Our guest doesn’t speak Japanese.>

Uran let go of Atomu and extended a small hand to Danny. “Hello, sir, I’m Uran! What’s your name?”

“I’m Danny,” he tentatively held out his hand, which Uran shook vigorously. “So where are you from that you speak English? The UK?” she asked, “We get a lot of foreigners coming and going through here, I have to download so many languages it makes my head hurt!”

Danny, pausing to recover from the blast of enthusiasm, was saved by Atomu. “He’s a bit more foreign than you think, Uran. Danny’s from another dimension.”

Uran furrowed her brow. “Really?”

“Yeah, I’m just a _tiny_ bit lost right now.”

"Oh, huh. Whad'ya know," she remarked causally. She glanced down and noticed where the small bullet scrape on Danny's hip had stained his jeans red. "Woah! You were shot at? That needs to be cleaned out. Stop standing around on the doorstop and get your butt in here!"

Danny compliantly stepped inside and closed the door behind himself. Uran dashed off to get some first-aid supplies while Atomu left to some other place in the apartment. Poking his head into the living room, he was briefly surprised to see a low table on top of a course mat. Ah, right, I’m in Japan, he thought. The flying cars made it easy to forget. He looked around and was amused to notice that despite the sliding screen doors and futons, there was a traditional couch in front of the TV screen.

Uran returned with a damp cloth, a bottle of disinfectant, and a fistful of bandages. She pointed at his shoes. “Take ‘em off before you come in.”

“Oh! I’m sorry,” He said, crouching down to untie the laces.

“You’re American, right?” she asked, then promptly went on, “You people are so weird, tracking dirt through your houses.”

“Yeah, well, we don’t sit on the floor,” he answered, smirking.

“I am so giving you twice as much of this now,” she smiled, holding up the disinfectant.

“Oh no. Whatever shall I do,” he said flatly, “It will cleanse my wounds of germs twofold, at the expense of minor pain.”

Uran went into a laughing fit and Danny sat cross-legged at the table.

“So how’d you get here, dimensional traveler?” she said, pulling back the torn fabric and wiping the dried blood off with the cloth.

“Well… _Jesus that’s cold!_ I don’t know, really. Which is the problem, because I don’t know how to get back.”

“Oh geez, you must know _something_. It definitely isn’t normal to be pulled into a different dimension,” she commented, “What were you doing when it happened?”

Danny took a deep breath and explained the whole situation, including how Ochanomizu had offered his help. “Really? GHOSTS?” she exclaimed, wide-eyed in amazement, “And I thought my brother fighting _aliens_ was weird!”

“It is weird,” Danny affirmed, “Ghosts are normal for us, but as far as I know aliens don’t even exist in our dimension.”

Atomu walked back into the room as Uran finished pressing on a bandage. He had put on a pair of jeans and a zip up fleece jacket. “Hey guys,” he said in a dull tone, sitting down across from them with a thump.

“Woah, woah, wait,” Danny interjected, “So you run around half naked in public, but you wear clothes inside?”

Atomu frowned. “Yeah, but most of the time I’m in public I’m fighting for the police or the Ministry. I don’t want to destroy my clothes every other day.”

Danny paused. “But couldn’t your… design… have more coverage?” he protested, “It’s just kind of strange--” he shrank under their confused stares.

“Uh, it’s not like I have much to show off. I’m a robot designed after a 9-year-old,” Atomu said quizzically.

<Westerners are weird,> Uran commented.

<Oh, hush, it’s a difference of culture,> her brother replied.

“Never mind,” Danny moaned, “Is there anything to eat around here? I haven’t eaten since… I don’t know. Like four hours and a dimension ago.”

“There’s stuff in the fridge you could heat up, but none of it’s really American food,” the girl said, gesturing to the kitchen.

“What, just because I’m American doesn’t mean I eat nothing but hamburgers,” he complained.

“I was just warning you!” Uran protested, “Personally I don’t get you humans and your weird preferences and obsessions and habits because I’ve never eaten anything! Ask him about stuff like that!” she pointed at Atomu.

“Uran,” he said tonelessly.

“Fine, be like that,” Uran sighed, then grabbed Danny’s arm. “Com’n, I’ll show you where the microwave is.”

The kitchen, like the rest of the apartment, showed no signs of being from an era of high functioning robots. It looked pretty much like any kitchen from he’d see in his own neighborhood.

“What, no matter assimilator?” he asked jokingly.

“Huh?”

“Nothing.”

Uran glared at him. “Humans say nothing when they mean something.”

Danny shrugged and rooted through the fridge, listening to the two of them going back and forth in what seemed to be argument over something. He took out something that looked like a noodle soup and put it in the microwave. The hum of the machine made them both look up with a start; as if they had forgotten he was there.

Danny shrugged. “You can keep talking. I can’t understand a word you’re saying, anyways.”

Uran sighed and seemingly switched topics, walking out of the kitchen and sitting down with Atomu. Danny watched them talking— probably about him— as he slurped noodles by the counter. Eventually they moved to the couch and squabbled over possession of the remote. After flipping through several channels, they settled on an animated show and fell silent. Danny finished the last few drops of broth and put the empty bowl in the sink before joining them in the living room.  He edged under their field of view and sat in front of the couch on the floor.

“What is this?” he asked, looking at the shouting characters.

“ _Tetsujin Nijuhachi-go,_ ” Atomu replied.

“I see.” _What would their idea of science fiction be in a world that I would consider to be science fiction?_ he thought, watching the battling robots. After the episode finished, Uran got up, stretched her arms above her head and yawned.

“My energy’s running low. I’m going to bed, so turn off the TV, kay?” She left the room and Atomu switched off the obnoxious commercial that was playing on the screen. The light of the television flicked out and the room was dark.

“You can sleep in my bed. I never use it anyway,” Atomu said.

“Do you sleep?” Danny asked.

Atomu got up, his figure barley visible in the thin glow of the skylight.

“Yeah, while we plug in for the night.”

Danny heard the soft creak of floorboards under Atomu’s feet and rose to follow the sound. He spoke, “We use the time to compile data.”

“Heh. That’s what they say dreams do for humans.”

Atomu flipped the on the light to the small bedroom. It was sparse, with a singer dresser, a closet and, (to Danny’s relief) a regular twin size bed.

“It’s all yours,” he waved his hand in its direction as he walked over to a power outlet with a short extension cord. He unzipped his jacket and sat against the wall.

“Are you sure?” Danny asked quizzically, “That doesn’t look particularly comfortable.”

“I’m made of metal, it doesn’t bother me.” He cracked open his chest and stuck the cord into one of the ports.

“If you say so,” he turned out the light and let cool darkness pour into the room.

Danny worried about Sam and Tucker and his family until he fell asleep.


End file.
